Darfur

Ten members of Sudan's controversial counter-insurgency unit have been killed in clashes with fighters loyal to a powerful militia leader in war-torn Darfur, the official SUNA news agency reported today.

Urgent funding is needed to keep thousands of people alive in Boko Haram-hit northeast Nigeria, the UN said Monday, stressing that the situation borders on famine and compares to crises in Darfur and South Sudan.

An escalation in fighting in Darfur has forced 138,000 people to flee their homes since mid-January and there is no end in sight to the 13-year conflict in Sudan's largest region, the UN peacekeeping chief has said.

Sudan insisted President Omar al-Bashir's visit to Johannesburg for a summit was proceeding normally and he would return after its main meeting, despite a court order on Sunday banning him from leaving South Africa.

Stacked with rockets and machine guns, dozens of trucks seized from rebels lined the main square of South Darfur`s state capital. Proof, Khartoum says, that its forces dealt insurgents a knockout blow.

The United Nations is working on a roadmap to streamline its joint mission with the African Union in Sudan`s Darfur and transfer some of its tasks to a team solely under UN control, a report said Friday.